Zara pushed her dreadlocks from her face and flipped over three cards. Studying them, she pointed down to the first two. “We already spoke about your past, so I assume you’re here today to learn about your present and future.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that would be great.”
She picked up the middle card and held it to her forehead with her eyes closed for a minute. “You’re lonely,” she said.
I frowned but nodded.
Zara leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I can send you to a little place on the other side of town. Tell them Zara sent you, and for fifty bucks you won’t be lonely anymore.”
I chuckled. “That’s okay. I think I’m good.”
She set down the middle card and picked up the next one, again holding it to her forehead for a moment. “Your pussy doesn’t want a new friend.”
My brows drew together. “Excuse me?”
“You do have a cat, right?”
“Yes.”
“Well, he is not going to like his new friend.”
“Who’s his new friend?”
“How should I know? I’m just telling you what’s coming to me.”
“Okay, okay.” Might that mean Hazel is coming? My cat didn’t exactly love her the first time they met. Maybe that’s a positive sign?
“And the apple you’ll be looking for? It’s in the trunk of the car.”
“The apple? That’s what you see? I’m going to misplace a piece of fruit?”
“Hey,” Zara snapped. “Don’t get pissy with the messenger.”
I dragged a hand through my hair. “Yeah, you’re right, sorry. I’m just anxious.”
“You’re anxious about the girl you were here with last time? The redhead?”
My pulse started to race. “Yeah. What do you see about her?”
Zara closed her eyes tightly for moment, and then opened them. “Nothing. Sorry. I’m not seeing her at all.”
My heart sank into my stomach.
“But I do see something else,” Zara said. “Are you into astrology, by any chance?”
I shook my head.
“Is your birthday in May, or maybe a woman in your life has a birthday in May?”
I shook my head again.
“I’m seeing a bull. But not just any bull. It’s the kind they use in those astrology charts to represent people born under the Taurus sign.”
I racked my brain for any kind of a connection to the month of May or astrology, but came up empty.
Seeing my face, Zara frowned. “Look, kid. Normally I’d make up some bullshit like you’re going to meet your future wife next Wednesday, or tell you I see a breakup in your future when nothing exciting is coming to me. But you don’t strike me as someone who wants to hear that crap.”
I smiled sadly. “I’m not. I appreciate you trying, Zara.”
“No problem, sweetheart.” She reached over into the storage box where she’d pulled out her tarot cards and took out something else. Extending what looked like a business card to me, she said, “This is a half-off coupon for the place I mentioned earlier that could help you get rid of your loneliness. Just in case you change your mind.”
I shook my head and stood. “Hold onto that for me, Zara. I may be back to take it tomorrow night.”Chapter 32* * *MatteoWandering the French Quarter in the morning as the sun came up was an interesting experience, like a surreal calm after a storm. Pretty sure some of the people passing by me hadn’t even gone to sleep yet; some still seemed drunk.
Then you had the older couples slowly strolling along, looking for a place to eat breakfast as the sound of a street performer’s clarinet played somewhere in the distance. The cleaning trucks were out, attempting to wash away the sins of the night before. And early-morning commuters rode by on their bikes. The city was waking up, and I longed for Hazel to be here with me, so we could wander these streets together.
To anyone else here, it was like any other morning in New Orleans. But for me? It was the start of a day that would dictate the rest of my life—a day that would inevitably mean the difference between a hopeful future or an irreparable broken heart.
I stopped at a café and ordered two powdered beignets and some coffee. As delicious as they were, my stomach felt unsettled, so I wasn’t able to eat them. I couldn’t stop thinking about tonight.
Given that Hazel hadn’t reached out to me in a month and a half, if I were a betting man, I’d say she wasn’t coming. But wild horses still couldn’t have kept me away on the off-chance she did show.
The longer Hazel and I were apart, the more I missed what we had. But she’d lost a certain amount of trust in me that I might never be able to earn back. I just had to hope that whatever was meant to happen would.• • •I’d spent the day trying my best to pass the time before the flight I’d booked for Hazel was set to arrive. Nothing could stop the preoccupation in my mind, though.